Lacoste Sportswear.
French sportswear company
Lacoste's seminal fashion impact rests on the cotton knit tennis shirt with alligator symbol
developed in the 1920s by Jean Rene Lacoste. Lacoste, a popular French tennis player in a
sports-mad and style-conscious era, was nicknamed "Le Crocodile" for his aggressive play and
long nose.
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Then, spectators and fashion editors eagerly noted what sports stars and celebrities
wore to and from the matches. On the courts players wore the unexciting standard tennis whites
of flannel trousers and woven buttoned shirts with their long sleeves rolled up.
Lacoste challenged this traditional uniform by playing in shortsleeve knit shirts with a
crocodile monogrammed on them. He designed his shirts for comfort and good looks during the
rigors of the court. The short cuffed sleeve ended the problem of sleeves rolling down.
The soft turned down collar loosened easily via the buttoned placket. The pullover cotton
knit breathed, while the longer shirt tail prevented the shirt from pulling out.
Not content merely to introduce the style for his own use, Lacoste turned to producing
and marketing them, following his retirement in the early 1930s. The shirts he commissioned
from friends in the textile industry included an embroidered crocodile on the left breast
at a time when few clothes had symbols. Lacoste's renown and photos of Riviera and
Palm Beach notables in this type of shirt popularized the style for recreational wear,
especially in the United States.
While white remained traditional on tennis courts, the Lacoste shirt went Technicolor on
the American golf links in the 1950s. The same characteristics that made it comfortable
for tennis, especially the longer shirt tail, made it the sought-after style. Licensed
to American manufacturer David Crystal, Inc., the crocodile swam or colored pique knit
versions of the original model. Munsingwear came out with a comparable style, dubbed the
Grand Slam golf shirt.
As memories of Rene Lacoste faded, the crocodile trademark was increasingly referred
to as an "alligator." The alligator symbol, like the country clubs at which it was
seen, acquired an upscale reputation. David Crystal further enhanced this image by melding
the Lacoste and Izod names. Izod derived from a British tailor who outfitted the British
Royal Family. To update and increase its appeal in the late 1960s, Crystal made the shirt
in double knit easy care Dacron polyester but cotton had perennial appeal. The colors
followed current fashion's whimsy, including the worn and faded look. As the shirt settled
into an enduring style for sport and casual wear, other companies, including US mass-merchandiser
Sears, Roebuck, and Co., brought out their own variations with two to four button plackets
and their own symbols. Ralph Lauren's polo shirt is a notable successful upscale rendition.
The preppy look of the 1970s ignited the alligator shirt's popularity and sales and gave
it cachet among men, teenagers, and children. They wore the shirt differently-shirt
tails were out and the ribbed collars open and flipped up. In the 1980s, collars went
back down and all buttons were buttoned. Women sported feminine versions or wore their partner's.
The alligator appeared on related garments with the name Izod Lacoste. At times the symbol was
revamped or removed. The shirt, or a facsimile, was a staple of the American middle class wardrobe.
The phrase "Lacoste shirt" came to be a generic alternative term for a tennis or polo style shirt.
Ultimately the shirt and its trademark were hurt by overmarketing, copies, and caricature in the
form of a satiric upside down "dead alligator" symbol. In recent years, as the license for making
Lacoste brand garments bounced from corporation to corporation, the licensees worked to return
the shirt to its former successful niche. The current producer has returned to basics: a
well-made cotton pique shift for the upscale market. After 60 years and near extinction,
Jean Rene Lacoste's crocodile is returning to the elite waters that spawned it.
-Debra Regan Cleveland
Extract from “Contemporary Fashion”, written by Richard Martin. Detroit: St. James Press, 1995.
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